Five lessons learned from Mexico City Earthquake #19SMX

Teenager in Toluca City with a Sign “Earth shakes but we are eagles” September 20th 2017

I had an appointment at 13:00 hrs. One of my students has to talk to me about her dissertation. Surprisingly, she arrived five minutes earlier and we started talking. My computer was turned on. The screen show some documents that we we’re reviewing in order to make the point about her research problem… suddenly my desk jumped and the windows started crying… “It’s an earthquake” I said, and jumped out the chair, running to the door and forget complete about her ( I realize later on that she was petrified but recovered and ran away), I went to the yard with my other colleagues and students just to watch the movement of trees, some high towers and our two floors building moving from side to side like a baby before sleep. My feet still feel the slightly movement of the floor below my shoes… the earthquake stoped 13: 15 hrs, September 19th 2017.

32 years before in this same day I was a teenager when the killer earthquake of 1985 at 7:19 am hit Mexico City and took the life of more than 10,000 people according to different informations. Numbers of this year are lower — about 350 people — but the impact on people, government and infrastructure is still important. There are different lessons and perspectives to define the meaning about what happened; many people that lived this experience very close and lost some love ones could have another point of view. I was blessed and nobody was damaged in my closest circle of family and friends. After a few days of this event I try to gather some lessons that Mexicans could share about this experience.

1. Life: meaning and technology.- 19S earthquake in Mexico grounded all of us to remember the value of life; how small we are at the power of nature and what are the real important things in our existence. People were looking at their cell phones, playing games in their tablets and forget about each other. Hypnotized by the effects of technology and their social platforms. More importance was given to drug dealing attacks, insecurity, and the recent dead of a young girl from Puebla murdered by a driver from Cabify. Many Mexicans were joking about the bad luck of people from the states of Guerrero and Oaxaca that were hit by a previous earthquake — September 7th, 23:50 hrs — but that won’t happened to Mexico City , we have “learned the lesson” they said. Just 12 days later nature strikes back.
2. The power of social media platforms to organize society and save lifes. No doubt at all. WhatsApp was the only communication available seconds later from the earthquake to contact family, friends and coworkers. Telephone land lines collapsed, power was out and people was texting. Twitter was the second tool to send news, organize help, ask for support and send links from important news to share with the world. Millennials organize themselves using this tools to collect supplies, organize car caravans, organize motorcycle fast deliver errands of help or medical supplies, ask for volunteers and share news about urgent needs.
3. The emergence of Political Participation: the Change.org case. Next year presidential election in Mexico will increase the public funding on the nine political parties to participate in this electoral process (Mexican political parties only receive public funding for campaigning). However on September 19th, a citizen named Eduardo Alonso started a petition on the plattform Change.org, about “National Electoral Institute must donate 7, 000 millions of pesos from the political parties to victims from the earthquakes of September 7th and 19th “This petition was shared immediately in a frenetic Twitter, Facebook and WhatsApp platforms, reaching half million people signed the petition in less than five hours; at the end of the day more than one million people have signed the petition and political parties leaders have been forced to pronounced on donate 20 or 50 percent of their future budget to this cause. President from the National Electoral Institute share a video of a couple of minutes through his official twitter account, accepting this mandate from the citizens. Maybe is too soon to victory. Next year, after the immediate reconstruction of many houses and buildings, we will witness if political parties and electoral authorities accomplish their promise. But so far, people react using an online platform and send a message to the political establishment.
4. Fake news for social control on management crises. 19S earthquake demonstrates two things: 1. Is important to foster a culture of emergency protocols and education followed by the society and 2. People has to understand the use of technology and information in emergency circumstances. This natural event rises fears and concerns about its own security and their families, but also makes immediate addiction to news. It was a fertile ground to spread rumors — apocalypse and the “big eathquake” — that hits in the collective mood of fear. Fake news arise in this context to control society. The case of #FridaSofia, a supposed victim of 12 years old girl, was buried in a private elementary school named “Enrique Rebsamen”. The rescue was widely followed by social media and television, during 48 hours after the earthquake. The montage or the lie was dismantled by an independent journalist and exposed officially by the Almirant Angel Enrique Sarmiento, from the mexican Marines in charge of the rescue of the school “Frida Sofia never exists. It was a misunderstanding from rescue people and military caused by the emotion of the rescue people” So, mexican citizen we never now if she dies or never ws rescue or worse it was never existed. While all media attention was focused in this media ghost, meanwhile in the rural municipalities of Mexico, more than 4,500 houses were destroyed by the earthquake and people was claiming for help. Federal government and society was focused chasing shadows of #FridaSofia and… nobody moves to understand the magnitude of the consequences of the big earthquake.
5. New nationalism against low profile politicians and political parties. In the time civil society organized to help rescue, collect supplies, distribute food among volunteers, military personnel, and rise their fists to indicate silence and hear the screams of help from below tons of stone and bricks. A large absence was felt. Nobody from the government appeared. No congressman appearead. No mayor, no public officials shows up. Organization come from ordinary people, students, housewives, aunts, grandmothers, kids, middle class, low class, undergraduates or without formal education. Everybody helps everyone that requires anything. Telephone companies, big supermarkets, small stores, churches’ collects supplies on every corner on every house was opened to receive collection of food, covers, water to help other Mexicans. In the mean time, Mexican president was trying to organize an informal press conference to his wife — former TV actress — that share its concerns for the people in disgrace. Just another scene to show willingness for help and calm. At the same moment, governor from the state of Morelos stopped trucks loaded with tons of food and help and redirected to private warehouses. In the state of Mexico students collected supplies on every corner, on every house, texting and delivered everything in their schools, where it was packed and stamped as local government help. At this same moment, some rescue people were singing the national anthem because they find alive another person.

The material reconstruction of the city is in progress, mental and emotional healing takes longer, but the political turmoil caused by the earthquake is about to start. The repercussions on presidential campaign will be seeing on the next year… so far.